MikeBirt wrote:I had a session on the new 54 today
8m Varial X full power to extreme under power. Flat water to head high, sometimes larger cross onshore break.

It's very nice... a lot more capable under power than I expected! Infact i had to remind myself that I was on a free race board charging through the surf. The 3 fins give a lot of control and directional stability. I found myself carving, popping and clearing the white water with eas - a very confident feel to the board straight from the off. A lot of rail to rail confidence. I did some comparative testing between the three stock fins and the smallest set of v2 quads I could find. I also took some go-pro footage and will try and get it up in the next day or so.

If the 60 holds as much potential as the 54 in terms of handling I think it will be a significant step forward. I'll post up more specifics soon..

54 -
I had a couple of hours on it yesterday. It was chilly and quite squally - most riders were on 10-12, I opted for an 8m and had lulls which brought everyone off, as well as squally which had everyone fighting, so I did get a good chance to try it in pretty much it's entire windrange. That said, I did not get to the position where I couldn't march upwind, so not entirely sure the super low end - for this you need under 10 knots and a bigger kite...
I did have quite a few runs at full power and speed, and I have to say that the board did exceptionally well, a vast improvement here...

Certainly under power and aggressive rail bite this is by far the smallest feeling sector so far - feels much smaller and smoother than the V2 52, and a lot slippier through the water on the 3 fin setup. From the vid you get a feeling of how the carving has changed. I have complete impunity of rail to rail which is something you had to proactive with on the 4 fin V2's, now I can just turn my brain off and concentrate on what I'm doing not how I'm doing it.
It made for a board that is much easier for messing around under power; jumping, turning on waves, general impulsive and flowing riding was much easier. It's also lightning quick on a reach.. the cross wind speed and control is way higher and in this it feels almost like a mutant (for those for you that ever spent any time on these in the early days..). I like the critical load and stability you can get on it just before takeoff and in this it's the first sector that I would consider jumping full power.

If it has an Achilles heel compared to the sectors we now it would be upwind and early planing, but in all honest, though I felt that it would easily be outpointed by a 60, and would not have the initial float to power away from a standstill in super light winds I think that the efficiency of it is excellent, and so with a bit of work it will go a lot earlier that the average super wide twin tip, in this it's still a sector. You can ride it flat and point it, but the fins and tail are smaller, so they need a critical boardspeed before they come online, and this is higher than the bigger boards, so in that you do have a compromise. This will be less of an issue for lighter riders though, and aside people who, like me who enjoy winding these things up to full speed, the smaller fins and tail will be a real asset.

The last 20 mins of the session I stuck a set of quad (non swept) fins in from an older sector. The fins had a LOT of cant, similar to the V1's and the effect they had on the board was startling.. Upwind ability and slow speed drive went up massively, but so did the drag, and the board lost some of it's off wind efficiency. Carving ability fell off a cliff, which I thought was surprising, that said they are older style fins...

For me it's tri fin for now (just as they come as stock). Looking forward to trying the 60 and the 66; a big difference between the V3 and the V1/V2 which were marginal improvements..

Its not really a wave board, but unlike the V2 52 you don't fear that the rails will trip of the fins train line you. In this is much easier to be smooth and flowing. The absolute rail grip (maximum G you can pull) is not comparable to a wave board, so although while I'd say it will go everywhere a wave board will, and turn everywhere on demand I'd say that you are not going to get top marks for agility, but this year you are not going to fall on your face and play dodge the fins as you go through the washing machine!

I have a choptop 5'8 coming soon - at 60 wide I'm interested to see what this is like.

The stability, agility and increased reaching speed is going to be very interesting in the 60 which was my favourite board last year. The boards arrive for real in the UK at the end of April.. I cant wait to try them.. I spent a lot of good quality time on the 60 last year.

droffats wrote:MikeBrit,

So how does the 54 do as the sometimes wave board? Did you try it with only two straps? My guess is you can't really snap it, but it's a possible wide carver.

Got mine and have had two long sessions on it. Amazing. My local Brau's couldn't believe how small my kite was and how fast I was moving. To me, it is a great option to avoid spending >$1800 US (retail) for a light wind kite.

I got the 60 V2. It is so much fun to ride. When you feel it take off, it's like there is almost no friction on it. I'm still convincing my body to keep the board flat rather than on a rail. No need to ride without straps. Jump right in and take off.

BTW: I'm in flat water as you may be able to tell by the above description.

No need for big kites I go with my 13 out when the others are on their 21 and 19m flysurfers
I weigh 80kg.

I have already flown it with 9m and 7 m in more choppy waters, the boards are a dream...
The V2 is a less good jiber than the V1, but it takes off earlier.
The V3 must have the improvement of jibing also because of a 3fin..but as stable?

MikeBirt wrote:I had a session on the new 54 today
8m Varial X full power to extreme under power. Flat water to head high, sometimes larger cross onshore break.

It's very nice... a lot more capable under power than I expected! Infact i had to remind myself that I was on a free race board charging through the surf. The 3 fins give a lot of control and directional stability. I found myself carving, popping and clearing the white water with eas - a very confident feel to the board straight from the off. A lot of rail to rail confidence. I did some comparative testing between the three stock fins and the smallest set of v2 quads I could find. I also took some go-pro footage and will try and get it up in the next day or so.

If the 60 holds as much potential as the 54 in terms of handling I think it will be a significant step forward. I'll post up more specifics soon..